?Pick your own lettuce today, whitey.? This was on the placard of a protestor in Los Angeles on the unique American version of May Day this year. This placard happened to be carried by a white American organic farmer. But next to him was a Latino protestor whose T-shirt said, ?The sleeping giant has awoken?. The giant, in this case, is America?s vast population of Latino immigrants who make up a powerfully significant proportion of its workforce. Many thousands from this immense workforce, together with immigrants? rights groups, school children and workers in industries dominated by immigrants, took to the streets of more than fifty American cities from coast to coast on May 1 to join what is being called ?A Day Without Immigrants?. Their slogan was ?No work, no school, no sales and no buying?, and they were protesting against the passage of bill HR 4437 by the House of Representatives in December. This bill would criminalize illegal immigrants, on top of tightening border control. Crucially, it does not offer any route to citizenship for those who have already made it to the land where, as a Polish immigrant puts it, ?one can make everything happen?. The point of the boycott was to show the nation the power of the invisible but ubiquitous. From lettuce-picking to meat-packing and hospitality, the economy and everyday life in America have received a considerable jolt from such a day of organized Hispanic inaction.

Out of an overall population of 290 million, around 37 million people in the United States of America are Hispanics, among whom around 11 million are illegal or undocumented. The problem is not simply of everyday practicalities or cultural identity; it is also political. Caught between the immigrant vote (which also means business) and the conservative, anti-immigrant one ? like the Congress in Assam (another state troubled by immigration and its legal ?solutions?) ? Mr George W. Bush?s best bet seems to be ?comprehensive immigration reform?. This would mean tougher border controls, but a route to citizenship for illegal immigrants as well as a guest worker programme. But the identity issue is important. When a British singer invited Mr Bush to sing along with his Spanish version of ?The Star-Spangled Banner?, the president was firm that ?people who want to be a citizen of this country ought to learn?to sing the national anthem in English?.